Land warfare

Wars are not decided only in space. In order to capture enemy planets, entire armies will be needed, along with the preparation and battlefield awareness to properly use them. However planets may only be invaded if the system's starbase has been occupied.

Contents

Although secondary to space battles, ground warfare is a vital aspect of many wars.

Ground combat takes place between the planet owner's defense armies and the invader's assault armies. The number of armies that can be engaged in combat on either side is half the size of the planet. Armies not engaged in combat will be placed a row behind the fighting armies and replace any killed army.

Generals are leaders who command armies and give them bonuses. However Generals, particularly at lower levels, may die during the fighting.

Each army has a morale value, and once morale drops low enough the army will be negatively affected with the following modifiers:

Morale

Penalty

50%

-25% Army Damage

0%

-75% Army Damage

Armies gain experience from combat and can rank up. Higher rank armies are more effective in combat.

An attacker can always attempt to retreat. However there is a significant chance that each retreating army is destroyed while attempting to return to space, making retreat a risky endeavour and something to do only in very poorly chosen engagements.

Planet Devastation is a measure of how much damage has been caused to the planet's population centers. It goes from 0 to 100% and the higher it is the more damage defensive armies take and the more likely pops are to be killed. Every 1% Planetary Devastation causes a 1% decrease in Housing, Amenities, Trade Value, Resources from Jobs, Upkeep from Jobs, Growth Speed and Immigration Pull.

Planet Devastation is caused by orbital bombardment and assault armies. Assault armies have a Collateral Damage modifier that determines how fast they cause Planetary Devastation. Defense armies do not cause any.

Planet Devastation

Damage to armies

Kills pops

FTL inhibitors functional

0%

50%

25%

100%

50%

100%

75%

200%

Planet Devastation is reduced monthly by 0.5% as long as the planet is no longer bombarded or invaded.

Defense armies are automatically recruited by certain buildings from the species working them and can be robotic or organic. They are stationed on planets and used to defend against enemy armies. While they are stronger one-for-one than assault armies, their static nature means that investment is necessary to fend off a concentrated attack. Their combat ability is also improved by certain technologies.

Job

Defense Armies

Notes

Colonist

1

Enforcer

2

Soldier

3

Patrol Drone

2

Warrior Drone

3

Slave Overseer

2

Only available on planets with the Thrall World Specialization

Protector

3

Only available to biological Fallen Empires

Xeno-Keeper

2

Only available to the Enigmatic Observers Fallen Empire

Guardian

3

Only available to the Ancient Caretakers Fallen Empire

The type of army recruited depends on the pop working the building that spawns them. Defense armies do not incur any upkeep beyond that of the building that creates their Job. Defense armies do not cause Collateral Damage.

An empire can recruit armies of any species that is present within its borders, as long as there are members of that species living on the planet which the army is recruited from. Unlike Defense Armies, they are based in space and each recruited army will board a transport ship. Transport ships are unarmed but automatically upgraded with the latest defense components.

The amount of armies an empire can build from a species is limited to the number of pops of that species living within the empire. Titanic beasts are limited to three per empire and lost armies cannot be replaced.

Army Type

Cost

Time

Army Damage

Morale Damage

Collateral Damage

Health

Morale

Maintenance

Requirements

Description

Assault Army

100

90

1.50 - 3.00

1.50 - 3.00

100%

200

200

1.00

Starter

Assault armies come with their own transports and can invade other planets.

Slave Army

50

60

1.50 - 3.00

1.12 - 2.25

150%

200

150

0.50

Neural Implants

Slave soldiers who serve their masters on the battlefield. Most are conscripted by force, but many slaves volunteer in a desperate attempt to increase their food rations or escape from grueling labor.

Clone Army

75

30

1.50 - 3.00

1.50 - 3.00

125%

200

200

0.75

Gene Banks

Vat-grown clones that reach adulthood in a matter of months. With a natural lifespan of less than a decade, their lack of personal initiative is deemed an acceptable trade-off for their total obedience to officers.

Robotic Assault Army

150

90

1.50 - 3.00

1.50 - 3.00

150%

400

immune

1.50

Droids techAllowed Robotic Workers Policy

Cold and heartless killing-machines designed only for war. They pursue their objectives relentlessly, and are impervious to the shattering effects of poor morale that so often plague organic combat units.

Psionic Army

250

120

3.00 - 6.00

4.50 - 9.00

50%

350

500

2.50

Telepathy

Soldiers gifted with psionic abilities. Their focus on destructive psionic powers has led to drastically different tactics and strategies on the battlefield – their first objective is always to remove the enemy's willingness to fight.

Xenomorph Army

200

100

3.00 - 6.00

6.00 - 12.00

500%

400

immune

2.00

Morphogenetic Field Mastery

Ravenous hordes of bio-engineered horrors made up of little more than teeth, claws, and an instinctive urge to kill. A cadre of scientists monitor and supervise the raging swarms as best they can from hardened bunkers behind the front.

Gene Warrior Army

300

150

3.00 - 6.00

3.00 - 6.00

75%

500

500

3.00

Gene Seed Purification

Genetically enhanced super soldiers. Recruits are typically chosen from the elite of the conventional military forces. These then undergo extensive gene therapy, and are made larger, stronger, and faster than their peers.

Hunter-Killer Army

100

90

1.50 - 3.00

1.50 - 3.00

200%

200

immune

1.00

Machine Intelligence

Mass-produced tracked war machines designed to seek out and destroy everything that has been designated as an enemy.

Battle Frame Army

200

120

2.25 - 4.50

3.00 - 6.00

200%

500

immune

2.00

Machine Intelligence Adaptive Combat Algorithms

Large, bipedal warbots that are surprisingly fast and mobile given the heavy armaments they carry. They are quite intelligent and renowned for the insidious tactics they often employ.

Mega-Warform

800

500

6.00 - 12.00

9.00 - 18.00

400%

1200

immune

8.00

Machine Intelligence Biomechanics

This single colossal warform towers over the battlefield and its massed firepower exceeds that of most armies. Bringing one of these behemoths down is extremely difficult.

Titanic Beast

300

90

4.50 - 9.00

9.00 - 18.00

300%

1000

600

1.00

Titanic Lifeforms event chainOnly up to 3 can be recruited

Research breakthroughs have enabled us to train Titanic Lifeforms into military units, but due to the rarity of suitable subjects we will be able to only field a limited number of these Armies at a time.

Azizian Army

25050

90

4.50 - 9.00

9.00 - 18.00

100%

1000

400

1.00

Ice Alien event chainOnly up to 3 can be recruited

The Azizians make titanic murderous slugs, crushing their foes, secreting a sticky fluid.

Psionic Avatar

event

event

7.50 - 15.00

15.00 - 30.00

100%

1400

immune

none

Shroud event

A colossal warrior from the Shroud that has been forged out of pure psionic energy.

As armies fight battles they will increase in rank, improving their stats based on their experience points. Armies get +2 experience points each time they deal damage and +1 when they take it. Armies recruited on planets with a Military Academy, Mercenary Liaison Office or War factory are granted 100 experience points and therefore start out as Experienced.

Orbital bombardment occurs when a fleet is in orbit around a hostile planet, and is generally a precursor to invasion. Genocidal empires can even opt to skip the invasion entirely and simply exterminate all life on the surface. Orbital bombardment causes damage to any defensive army but also Planetary Devastation. Effectiveness is based on the Fleet Size of fleet in orbit. A fleet of at least 10 Fleet Size is required to perform orbital bombardment, and maximum effectiveness is reached at 100 Fleet Size. Orbital bombardment damage is reduced by 50% if the world has a Planetary Shield Generator, which cannot be destroyed by the bombardment.

Each pop killed by Orbital Bombardment lowers the opinion of every non Militarist empire, particularly Pacifist ones. Fallen Empires also ignore it, with the exception of the Benevolent Interventionists.
Pop abduction does not cause a lowered opinion.